Queens dream pop group Iceblynk’s eponymous debut EP is a solid five-song, 25-minute effort that showcases the best of the genre.
Appearing to be named after the acclaimed Cocteau Twins track “Iceblink Luck,” the group leans into dream pop’s prized traditions. From reverb-tinged vocals that ring familiar of the easy melodies and loose enunciation of Elizabeth Frazer, to the whirring, effects-drenched guitar playing of My Bloody Valentine, Iceblynk captures key elements of the genre with precision.
Cover art for the record.
Notes of surf rock are obvious as well, especially on the EP’s first two tracks. Summery guitars characterize “Tragic,” an upbeat opener with slippery drumming and wistful lyrics that define the record. Its follow-up, the new-wavey “Spared,” is a highlight with its infectious, harmonic-laden guitar riff and a simple chugging bassline. It also features some of the EP’s most pointed lyricism, with lines such as “and then you’ll ask me to explain, I know I know that you won’t do the same.”
All tracks are consistent but none are static, with guitar solos and waves of swirling effects padding out almost every song to around five minutes in length. Such is the case for track #3 “Imagined Life” with its subtle verses of watery synths contrasting atmospheric guitar-driven choruses. While melancholic, it’s not depressing with lyrics such as “and when you can’t imagine life, another day of asking why, I’ll take you to a quiet place.”
This subdued energy continues on “Seen Gone,” the only number shorter than four minutes. Genuine lines such as “I always take two moments to break it all apart, to form a simple sentence from my scattered thoughts” add vulnerability to this lowkey, surf-rock oriented track, which also features some of the record’s grooviest drumming.
This EP starts upbeat and fast, becoming subdued and meditative, before finishing loud with “Sunshine.” A slow, waltzy closer, its array of synths and vocal effects reminisce a bit of Animal Collective. Uplifting lines such as “sunshine, you always make me feel like I’m the only one in the sky” make this a final note that comes off as genuinely uplifting.
Iceblynk’s debut EP doesn’t reinvent dream pop or shift drastically in tone at any point, but it doesn’t need to. The band’s musicianship is solid, the lyrics are endearing, and the songs are enjoyable. While just five songs long, this is a fulfilling debut project.
Finger Lakes rock band Sweats has released their second studio album, I End Where You Begin, a 50-minute project showcasing strong musicianship and vulnerable lyricism. A multi-disciplinary record, incorporating elements of bluegrass, hard rock, and funk, the band also shows no mind to brevity, with most of the project’s 10 songs angling towards the five-minute mark with solos abound.
Cover art for I End Where You Begin by the Sweats.
This approach is well introduced on “Indulgent Days,” a swinging opener with subtle, echoey verses contrasting the noisy, pounding chorus. It also sets the tone for the record’s lustful lyrical approach, with lines in the chorus such as “license to misbehave, you can’t take em to your grave, these indulgent days.”
Relatively playful, the album’s opener contrasts a bit from what follows. The next track “Broken Life” features a dark lead riff, screechy rhythm guitars, and a menacing hook. “You and I pick up the pieces of a broken life, hold em together see they fit right if we hold each other tight,” the chorus articulates. “Broken Life” is also a great example of the record’s dynamics, with bendy soloing, cymbal crashing, and urgent vocals highlighting the track’s climax.
This continues for the following two tracks. The guitar work on “Whiskey Thursday” is both urgent and dream-like, with an urgent keyboard riff on the verses setting the tone for a moody track that maybe shows off the best solo on the album. The album’s impressive drum work is on display for the funky grunge-like “Lose My Mind,” with moments of creepy, metal-esque vocal delivery, and forboding lines such as “he sleeps through days and is up all night, he said ‘it’s always dark before you see the light.’”
The record’s tone doesn’t stay this way though, with playful moments such as “Strawberry Girl,” an upbeat funk rock cut with lyrics like “juices are on my chin, summer nights begin,” and the danceable piano rock of “Holding Hands” with a romantic mantra being repeated for the last minute of the song: “I know you’re getting tired of the way things have to be, you don’t ever get tired of dreaming away with me.”
When I End Where You Begin isn’t angsty or cheery, it has its stretches of lust and melancholy. On “Witchoo,” the song’s jagged guitar solo adds expression to its slow, subdued approach, assisting wistful lines such as “thinking of the right things to say and do, as I dream away the night time just trying to be with you.”
“Nicks,” the longest song on the album at nearly seven minutes, marks the record’s emotional point as its penultimate track. “I saw you with a friend of mine I hadn’t seen in years, you saw me with a soggy mind after a couple beers,” the opening line articulates. While also subdued, the song’s two solos and explosive outro make the emotional payoff of the song all the more visible.
The album’s final track “Too Many Cooks” is much more playful and laid back than what comes before it, with sardonic lyrics that almost seem political. “Everything’s broke, no one needs fixin, everything’s a joke, nobody’s gigglin’, and if you see smoke don’t be surprised, it’s just the world on fire,” the chorus articulates. It’s a closer which doesn’t relate much to the rest of the record, but it still fits, covering a bit of extra musical ground.
Overall, I End Where You Begin is a strong album with impressive showings of musicianship on each track. Its lyrics are personal, it covers plenty of stylistic territory, and finishes right where it feels right.
Hudson Valley-based group The Jed Luckless Band released their newest album Second Lives, their first official release since 2013.
The Jed Luckless Band recorded the record live on their 2018 tour of virtual venues in Second Life and gives the listener the experience of one of their shows. The group is made up of Jed Luckless on guitar and vocals, Kenny Kaufman on bass and vocals, Mark Gutenplan on keys, guitar, and vocals, and Pete Marine on drums. The group usually live streams online or in the metaverse, but has done in-person performances as well.
JLB follows the jam band tradition, with extended improvisation and overall good vibes. The first track is quite lengthy, sitting at about 14 minutes. The title is “Give It Back > Valley Of The Saints” and prominently featured in the song are improvisation techniques, with extended guitar solos, and keyboard jam sesh. The song makes the listener want to get up and groove to the melodies.
The second track, “Road Trip > Sugar Pop” is also a lengthy track, sitting at just over 21 minutes. It is reminiscent of the Grateful Dead, with groovy guitars and stellar vocals. The group repeats the line “Going on a road trip” several times during the song, and it is a great song to listen to driving across the country as it elapses time in such a way that the listener gets so entrapped in the melodies.
Following that track comes “2,000 Pikes > Smile Forever,” featuring more vocals than the past tracks. It features pauses of silence and more of the classic improvisation style. This type of music would be great to have on in the background while you’re cleaning your house, or even studying. They are a group of very talented musicians, and they play together well, following each other’s instruments in a manner that flows very nicely.
The last track “FM Rock > By And Bye” starts out much softer than the other previous songs, with soft keyboard notes and guitar strums. The song speaks about the radio, then goes into a long jam sesh that keeps the listener on their toes.
The Jed Luckless Band’s new record Second Lives is overall a solid album featuring the classic jam band improvisation seshes, with electrifying guitar and keyboard solos, as well as drum beats that keep you swaying and dancing to the music for the whole record.
The Chapman Stick is the instrument of the absurd, of the surreal, even the extraterrestrial. It encompassed the strangeness of King Crimson when Tony Levin played it on “Elephant Talk.” It encompassed the strangeness of space when Gurney played it in David Lynch’s original “Dune.” In “Aimless,” by Chapman Stick specialist Bright Brown, the instrument encompasses the strangeness of just being alive.
Bright Brown is Alex Nahas’ solo project, where he focuses on recasting the Chapman Stick from its previous role as novelty instrument of the prog-rock era to spine of a song and counterpart to a songwriter.
Alex Nahas
The Chapman Stick was devised in the late ’70s by Emmet Chapman, a jazz guitarist who wanted to expand his two-handed tapping technique on guitar. Think of the Stick as a guitar and a bass at once, but also a piano, and also a drum. The instrument has 10 to 12 strings, each tuned differently, and no sound hole, just a long neck that can adhere to a belt loop. The fretboard is flatter than a guitar with sensitive pickups, because it is mostly tapped rather than strung.
The Stick first found its way into Nahas’ hands 30 years ago, at Pierce Community College in California, in California, where Emmet Chapman connected him with a Stick seller after Chapman gave a performance on campus.
Nahas started bringing the instrument to band practice. He was still figuring out how to use it and integrate it into songs, with not much to go off of, since the instrument isn’t really brought out in contemporary music as much as it was closer to its invention. Nahas said the Stick was often overshadowed in the mainstream because rock music was so defined by its band structure: guitar, bass, keyboard, lead singer.
“As a result, a lot of music sounds kind of formulaic, and the Stick allowed me to break the rules,” Nahas said.
But there is a new generation of Chapman Stick players swimming upstream to keep the eclectic instrument alive.
Dan “Chef” Zahal, a second year bass student at Berklee, has been teaching himself to play a Chapman Stick with 12 strings since he was a senior in highschool. He said he hasn’t been able to find any faculty at the music school to integrate his studies on the Chapman Stick into any legitimate classroom environment, but Zahal plays the stick in his band, Trophy Husband. He said part of a reason for the rarity of Stick players is because of the dizzying prospects for inventing sound through electronic music production.
“The whole technical aspect was a lot bigger in the 70s and the 80s with bands like King Crimson and Rush. It was all about who could play the coolest lines, the flashiest, the cleanest,” Zahal said. “A lot of more modern music is based on, because we have a lot of shortcuts in production and studio, who can manipulate those the best.”
In the way that producers can employ techniques from a variety of instrumental groups on an electronic program such as Ableton or Logic, the Chapman Stick employs dexterity and intricacy to create new sounds using both rhythm and melody in tandem. Because of its multifunctionality, both musicians found the instrument’s capabilities keep expanding as they study it. Zahal has been using drum rudiments in his playing recently, treating each hand — one on the guitar side of the Stick and one on the bass — as a hand in a drum line. Nahas also is inspired by the percussive elements of the Stick.
“Its very nature is percussive because you hammer onto it. So there’s that attack from the fingers,” Nahas said. “You can emphasize that and be really simple and routine, or you can move the notes around and, by playing a little lighter, make it sound more melodic.”
Alex Nahas has released three albums and two EPs under Bright Brown; “Aimless” is the first single to come from his next album, releasing in January. But when Nahas picked up the Stick it wasn’t immediately apparent to him how best to express his art with it, until he started letting the Stick lead.
“As I started writing, I thought ‘Oh, what if I approach this instrument as the core of the song, as the thing I write on, like it was a piano. And as soon as I started doing that, it made a lot more sense to me, and I haven’t put it down since,” Nahas said.
Gurney Halleck plays an Emmet Chapman piece on the Chapman Stick (called in the film a ‘Baliset’) in an extended scene from David Lynch’s “Dune.”
Nahas began forming bands around songs he wrote on the Stick, and Nahas’ playing took on its own life. While Tony Levin plays the Stick mostly on the bass side, so the sound can sometimes be twangy and rapid, Nahas’ playing more resembles a piano; it’s tender and earnest.
That tenderness is what makes the instrumental loops in “Aimless” so addicting. It’s a vague, wandering, circular song, that exploits both sides of the Stick, to fill you up with emotion and let you down easy with cathartic lyricism. Nahas started the song as just a little improvised lick back in early 2020, before the pandemic even started.
Once the pandemic settled in, the song’s lyrics took on new life: “Why take aim / because aimless is drifting / and drifting’s easier / easier brings peace / till it lies in pieces / and so we go / into our silence.”
He recorded the song and his upcoming album at his friend’s studio in Joshua Tree, California. Members of his first band, Eddie Avakian and Jamie Muhoberac played drums and keyboards, respectively; and Ava Nahas, Alex’s sister, was on percussion. This intimate group and the flat, stark, vast landscape of Joshua Tree is infused into “Aimless;” heard in the clarity of production and seen in the album’s cover art — an iPhone picture Nahas himself took on a break from recording.
“It has a real openness to it, that I probably wouldn’t have gotten writing in my tiny little apartment and recording it there,” Nahas said. “ The songs have patience to them. And, a sort of ease about them. It’s always been my goal to just let the song lead me through it.”
The newest album from Lucas Garrett, Reaching Through Dreams, is as vulnerable as it is empowered. He released it slowly, first with a single, “Together,” on April 1, then four months later he released “So Many Times.” Finally, in September, Lucas Garrett put out the full six song album, and he’s now announced a release show for December 1. And what better backdrop for the upstate NY artist’s strange, fantastic sound than the historic Caffe Lena?
Reaching Through Dreams, Garrett’s third EP, evokes layers that he peels back delicately, like an onion. On the surface, the song is filled with synthy bass and the melody runs a harmonic minor key. It sounds like fall, like an early sunset, kind of spooky and kind of fun. Garrett’s deep voice rumbles and warbles through poetic verse and each line is delivered with interest and depth. The lyrics merge relationships with people and music, blurring the lines dividing each intimate exchange, like in the EP’s opener, “So Many Times:”
“Picking up your tune / your words turn to mine / I have tried so many times / to let it run free / but I know I will hear / all your melodies”
In addition to the moving lyrics, the guitar on the album is explosive and adds to the layers of each song. In the inspiration for Reaching Through Dreams, Garrett cited Bowie’s “Heroes,” Stevie Wonder’s “Isn’t She Lovely,” and the Beatles’ “Two Of Us.” He also listed songs from David Byrne and St. Vincent. With inspiration as varied in both genre and time period, it makes sense that the album’s sound is eclectic and hard to place.
Caffe Lena has been hosting iconic musicians before they were icons since it opened in 1960. As one of the first on the east coast to welcome Bob Dylan, the venue is continuing its tradition of putting lesser known, talented artists on with Lucas Garrett. Tickets are starting at $10, and the event will be in person and live streamed. Garrett’s album release show will run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on December 1; tickets are here.
Covering a band from Belgium is a first for NYS Music, and not without good reason. The Haunted Youth have been indie darlings in Belgium and The Netherlands since the 2021 release of their first single “Teen Rebel,” and in attending Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg, Germany this past September, The Haunted Youth were one of the finalists for the ANCHOR Award, given out on the final day of the festival.
While The Haunted Youth did not win the ANCHOR Award (congrats to Cassia), they performed later that night at Angie’s to an industry crowd that saw lightning in a bottle. Seeing a band of this caliber perform in a club, having just played a main stage, who brought more energy to the room at the former, showed the nascent nature and the great potential for this Belgian band, who released their debut album Dawn of the Freak on November 4.
With hints of Australian indie rock band Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, recurring themes on Dawn of The Freak reflect the lives of a band who first connected during the COVID lockdowns in Europe and persevered through the loneliness and disruption to their lives. Frontman Joachim Liebens put his heart and soul into Dawn Of The Freak, writing all the songs and producing the album. The group’s sound ties together influences including The Cure, Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine, with shoegaze and dream pop laying the foundation of the album’s tone. Balancing out the highs the group has experienced in the past two years, the lows from Lieben are deftly channeled into the music.
It’s therapy, a way of dealing with my existence. And I hope this album will be universal and accessible enough for others to enjoy it in the same way.
Joachim Liebens
Whether live or studio, The Haunted Youth have a ‘sound of a generation’ quality about them, one that is heard clearly on the second and third tracks, “Teen Rebel” and “Stranger.” The former is an excellent post teen-angst song for the ’20s, with a dream pop beat that reflects on wanting more, creating a sweet dilemna. “Stranger” has hints of lonelieness that soldiers along thanks to The Cure and Culture Club, with tastes of new wave channeled through Gen Z.
A steady bass tone spreads into melanchoic synth rock on the longest track of the album, “Gone,” with “Broken” having the catchiest guitar riff and full band sound among the whole album, and that’s saying something. Lieben’s voice adds subtle emotion in his intonations, making “I Feel Like Shit and I Wanna Die” more upbeat than the title might suggest, offering a ray of light amid the burden of his life.
The airy and dreamy “House Arrest” repeats the lines “In the night I was falling down” and “take me away,” a stark view of what lockdowns must have felt like in Europe, as opposed to America where they varied in response and success. The properly upbeat penultimate track “Coming Home” gives a feeling of redemption and hope as the album draws to a close.
“Fist in my Pocket,” the final track and only acoustic number, channels the repressed anger of a generation, angry but unable to rise up against the gravity of the world left for them. Again, a melancholic glimmer of hope is shared, with Liebens singing, “It’ll all be over someday soon, I promise you.” As dark as the lyrics can be, the message gives the listener a fair reminder and feeling that it’s okay to feel like shit sometimes.
After performances at Reeperbahn, Rock Werchter, Best Kept Secret, Pukkelpop, and Tomavistas, the group not only has the ANCHOR Awards nomination under their belt, but also have been nominated for the Music Moves Europe Awards.
The Haunted Youth will be playing sold-out album release shows in The Netherlands and the Main Hall of legendary Brussels venue Ancienne Belgique, followed by an extensive string of release and festival shows all over Europe in 2023. Here’s to hoping they can make their way State-side for shows in the near future.
Dawn of the Freak is now available on all streaming services and Bandcamp
From his earliest days of musical self-expression, Harry Nichols has had deep passion for music and an ear for melody. He has released music independently since 2010 and continues to do so with his upcoming LP, Songs for the Rich and Beautiful.
Currently living and playing gigs around Ithaca, Harry Nichols announces his first full length album in 8 years, Songs for the Rich and Beautiful. The record, conceived during COVID lockdown 2020, is the result of a challenge with fellow Ithaca songwriter Samuel B. Lupowitz.
Songs for the Rich and Beautiful came out an eclectic, beautiful meditation on friendship, and testament to the power of camaraderie in the face of great difficulties. Both agreed to create new records, song for song responses, to each other’s efforts from 2012.
Songs on the album like “What’s Eternity?” have deep meaning and a nostalgic vibe when listening to the lyrics. Nichols pours his heart out to his audience about his past experience of nostalgia of his childhood growing up.
The song “Mecca” has an upbeat vibe that is incredibly catchy, yet the lyrics are more hitting to the heart. When trying to find the meaning in life, there are a ton of ups and downs. Nichols sings, “nothing goes as planned,” throughout the chorus.
Others songs like “Breathstroke” and portray a lighter side to the album, Harry Nichols gives us heavenly vocals and bright guitar chords. The song “Space Girl” also has amazing vocals and meaningful lyrics paired with Nichols guitar melody. Likewise, “Heteromasculine Lovegame” is quite the opposite, giving us a more fun indie/alternative upbeat song about how love and relationships can be such a game.
To check out more of Harry Nichols music, click on the link here to find more of his music on Bandcamp.
In the 1920s, “Rent Parties” were a common place in Harlem. As the end of the month approached, with rent looming and no way to pay, tenants would host a musician and invite friends, raising money and having fun, dancing and listening to music with their community in a place safe from discrimination. In 2020, as the pandemic struck, esteemed jazz pianist Emmet Cohen started hosting Rent Parties in his own Harlem apartment. He played with his trio and live streamed the event, calling it “Live From Emmet’s.” This event isn’t where his inspiration from Harlem’s jazz scene ends, though; Emmet Cohen’s newest record was made in Harlem’s spirit as well — Uptown in Orbit was released on October 28.
Uptown in Orbit presents huge energy through bright and powerful chords while showcasing immense talent and control. When listening, you see the view of bustling Harlem like you’re looking down on the streets from an upstairs apartment window. It’s all perpendicular and over-excited, but still perfectly harmonious, timed absolutely naturally. It feels like the song’s subject is orbiting, either we’re all circling around it or it’s circling us, either way the album brings the listener straight into this orbit.
The highlight of this album is the title track, “Uptown in Orbit.” Use of hemiola gives the song veritable bounce, as the ¾ rhythm is coupled into rhythmic pulses of three against two beats. The timing is swinging, and though Cohen likes to call back to the jazz hay days of the early 1900s, this track still has a modern feel with its energy and brightness. A saxophone comes soaring in during the second half of “Uptown In Orbit” — wailing with so much passion and grace, before turning brassy and raspy, almost like the voice in Pink Floyd’s Great Gig In The Sky.
Cohen has said jazz boils down to connections; between the musicians performing and the audience, as well. This album exhibits that connection flawlessly, with brass that floats over Cohen’s dextrous, easy-going piano, drums that shake the background, adding fuzzy sparkles and backbone to the other instruments’ colorful musicality.
Since he was three, Cohen has been devoted to the piano. He earned a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music after graduating from University of Miami, and has since performed in international events, such as the Newport, Monterey, Detroit, North Sea, Bern, Edinburgh and Jerusalem jazz festivals, in addition to playing in some of the most storied jazz clubs across the world.
The pianist is currently touring Europe, but in December he will be back in NYC for five days at Dizzy’s Club with his trio and Mary Stallings, starting December 8. You can RSVP for tickets here.
Brooklyn alt-pop duo Fake Dad have just announced their newest aesthetic release “New Machines” out on November 10th. The single is dreamy yet electrifying, overall capturing the nostalgic experience of younger generations who have grown up in a world characterized by tragedy and fear.
This particular single reflects on global stressors like climate crisis, “New Machines” channels a care-free sound reflective of the consistent lack of seriousness society seems to meet very real issues with. “New Machines” is also a powerful follow-up to their most recent single, “Painkiller,” that caught the attention of esteemed indie music tastemakers like Ones to Watch and A1234, whopremiered the single.
“We hope that the upbeat sound on New Machines is motivating and empowering to anyone feeling dejected, anxious, and emotionally burdened. Most of all, we hope this makes every listener feel a little less alone in this scary mess of a world.”
– Fake Dad
Fake dad fans still obsess over their anthemic June single“How Do I Cry?,” which landed itself on eight major Spotify editorial playlists like All New Indie and Indie Arrivals. Fake dad release some of the most aesthetic songs and share their conceptual ideas with their listeners. Thus, their newest single “New Machines,” which is dreamy yet electrifying with a nostalgic taste, will surely do that.
Fake dad, also known as Andrea de Varona and Josh Ford, have made music together in their studio apartment since 2018. The duo had designated their roles within the band and have worked with a variety of up and coming artists. Both artists come from different musical backgrounds, but they do share one common goal. And that goal is to create something that understands the listener. Both Andrea and Josh wanted to create music that comforted people, especially if the listener had a rough day in life, stated in a previous article from NYS Music.
To listen to Fake dad’s newest release “New Machines,” click the link to Soundcloud here.
And to read more about Fake dad from NYS Music, click the link here.
Formed in 2017 by Hamilton and Mullen, Ghost Light performed at festivals and lightly toured throughout 2018 and 2019 before their momentum was halted by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The Healing was recorded at Hamilton’s studio The Ballroom in Philadelphia.
The album opens with title track “The Healing,” where Hamilton and Mullen’s harmonies are immediately put on display in the song’s emotional and folk-tinged vibe. The track ends with a rocking and heavily distorted guitar solo that fades into feedback.
Bowling’s keyboards really shine on “Faces in the Moon” and “Take Some Time” – both Mellotron and synthesizers contributing to a gorgeous textural backdrop to the high-quality lyrics and guitar fireworks from Hamilton and Mullen.
“Up Here Forever” has one of Mullen’s strongest vocal performances in an almost Broadway-like song full of raw emotion.
“Opening Credits”, unusually placed in the middle of the album, begins with a mellow guitar soundscape that is slowly joined by piano and then an arpeggiating bass line from Shell. The repeating motifs gradually grow more dissonant as the bass is augmented by a distortion effect. Sweeping waves of Mellotron bring the music to a crescendo before Zwang introduces a slow, pounding and cymbal-heavy groove as each member of the band contributes their piece to the massive wave of sound. Crashing into the shore, we are left with guitar, piano, and Mellotron as the track fades out.
Picking up where the previous track left off, “Sweet Unlimited” and “Dig a Hole” both are built upon the incredible chemistry of rhythm section Zwang and Shell as Bowling continues to excel on Wurlitzer. Dialing up a wide palette of guitar tones from compressed and distorted to ethereal and reverb-drenched, Hamilton really shines on these tracks.
The final track, “Don’t Say Goodnight Just Yet”, opens with a strong bassline from Shell as Bowling plays with synths. Zwang holds down a steady beat throughout the upbeat closing song as it acts as sort of an emotional climax to the album – many of the previous tracks having a darker and more melancholy tone to them. We are left the same way we began the song, with Shell’s strong bass.
The Healing is a fantastic addition to Ghost Light’s catalogue, capturing the band’s studio sound – layers of acoustic and electric guitar atop a solid foundation of keyboards, drums, and bass. One drawback that Best Kept Secret had was a “kitchen sink” approach, with overdubs of percussion and extra instruments almost to the point of extreme – The Healing is a breath of fresh air in comparison, a recording where you can clearly pick out each of the members’ contributions without getting muddled.
Ghost Light return to the road in December for a series of dates on the West Coast.
